I am planning on trading in my Wii to go toward credit for the Wii U but various sources have said I would need to keep the Wii in order to do the transfer. And, other people have said if I just transfer over all of my purchases from the shop channel onto my SD card that I should be fine. Then, another source said that we shouldn't have to worry at all and that our purchases would be available already when we load up the Wii U and register our info. and everything. I am so confused. I only have one more day to decide too, because after tomorrow the trade value will go down for my Wii.

The Wii is not account based and you will have to keep you Wii to do a transfer. (as far as I'm aware.)
Putting everything onto an SD will not work as it will refuse to let anything else access it unless it's in the system the content was bought from.

You'll need to keep your Wii to be able to transfer software. There is also a chance that the transfer feature won't be available at launch, as was the case with the 3DS, so you might need to keep it for a few months after.

The Wii is not account based and you will have to keep you Wii to do a transfer. (as far as I'm aware.)
Putting everything onto an SD will not work as it will refuse to let anything else access it unless it's in the system the content was bought from.

We don't know for sure for all we know the wiiu may bypass that requirement to allow it to be transferred,

You need to have booth systems connected to the internet in order to transfer your games. So you need to keep your Wii.

im not so sure about that or how that would work, wouldnt it just be easier to create a channel for the wii then activate it alongside the wiiu while having a usb connection to both an transfer the rights that way?

The Wii is not account based and you will have to keep you Wii to do a transfer. (as far as I'm aware.)
Putting everything onto an SD will not work as it will refuse to let anything else access it unless it's in the system the content was bought from.

We don't know for sure for all we know the wiiu may bypass that requirement to allow it to be transferred,

Then you could copy games from anybody's wii onto your sd card and put it on your wii u. Nintendo won't let that happen.

The Wii is not account based and you will have to keep you Wii to do a transfer. (as far as I'm aware.)
Putting everything onto an SD will not work as it will refuse to let anything else access it unless it's in the system the content was bought from.

We don't know for sure for all we know the wiiu may bypass that requirement to allow it to be transferred,

Then you could copy games from anybody's wii onto your sd card and put it on your wii u. Nintendo won't let that happen.

It's interesting how sure people are about requirements when we haven't had any official word beyond a vague "you'll be able to transfer downloads."

I have a linked Club Nintendo account and this does indeed record all my purchases from the Wii Shop since day one, so that's a possibility. On the other hand you don't need a Club account to make a Wii Shop purchase - why not multiple options then? I figure all VC content will be updated for Wii U (multiple video modes for support of HD output, Gamepad controller support) so it might be that WiiWare and VC content can be transferred, but you'll also be able to simply download anything linked to your Club Nintendo account which exists in the new eShop.

Ultimately I'll get the system and give away my old Wii regardless of being able to do transfers, but I'll hang onto the Wii until I know the score.